Cashew is a popular snack and also an important ingredient for confectionery and cereal products. Yet, its allergenic potential is often underestimated. For nut allergy sufferers, cashew can be a real problem.

When it comes to nuts as allergen triggers, we usually think of peanuts. However, cashew is also allergenic even in small amounts and may lead to allergic reactions including skin irritations, nausea, respiratory problems and an anaphylactic shock. Cashew allergy is less common than peanut allergy, but many people with peanut allergy also react to tree nuts such as cashew. This is why undeclared cashew in food products poses a major risk for a high number of nut allergy sufferers. In particular, the unintentional contamination with cashew proteins during transportation, storage and production is a source of risk. For allergic people, it is important to note that cashew may be present in many food products such as pesto, cereals, baked goods or desserts.

Did you know? In botanical terms, cashews do not belong to the family of nuts. They grow on cashew trees and are the seeds of the cashew apple. 60 percent of the worldwide cashew production is consumed as snacks, the remaining 40 percent are processed, in particular in confectionery industry. The main cultivation area is Vietnam.

According to EU regulation no. 1169/2011, cashew must be declared as an ingredient on food labels due to its allergenic potential. Similar regulations exist in the USA, Canada, Australia and other countries. In the food industry, allergen management should therefore always include testing for cashew.

Test methods for detection of cashew at a glance:

RIDASCREEN®FAST Cashew

Lateral Flow Cashew Kern

SureFood® ALLERGEN Cashew

Immunological assay (ELISA)

Quantitative detection of cashew in raw and heated foods

Incubation time: 30 minutes

RIDASCREEN®FAST Cashew is currently the most sensitive ELISA in the market